Hands-Food-Art

The picture below has a strong meaning to my photography, therefore, it has a very special place in my heart and mind; it represents the cornerstone of my style and my way of photographing food:

Plating at Silo

It was shot at Silo and it happened in an instant. Head chef and owner, Doug dressed the dish right in front of the lens and I thought that was an interesting composition, very artistic and aesthetically pleasing with some nice colours and textures and a decent background but the hand… The arm stretching, the thumb pressing the bottle, the tendons tightening… That’s what captivated me.

The picture was shot from the gut and it taught me that just like in art history, hands tell a story as well. Then I learned that the interaction of people with food can be much more powerful than food or people on their own and the link between these two has to be the hands. The first thing I spotted was how the composition fits perfectly with the Golden Spiral:

Being an art, history and design geek, I couldn’t help noticing how nicely the composition fits with the Golden Spiral:

So I did some further research and noticed that hands have always been a big part of an artist’s storytelling. In fact, humans have had a fascination with hands for thousands of years:

Cave of the Hands, Argentina

Egyptian wall carving

Michael Angelo The Creation of Adam

David Alfaro Siqueiros Self Portrait

M. C. Escher

So it was just a matter of common sense to take this fascination with hands and make it my own. I was particularly fascinated by Michael Angelo’s Creation Of Adam where both meet by nearly touching. I took this idea of creator and creation and adopted it as part of my style of storytelling through photography:

I took this idea of creator and creation and adopted it as part of my style of storytelling through photography. Pay attention to the natural beauty of hand gestures and poses:

Pinch of salt

Gentle touch

Dough rolling

Frozen yogurt

Line them up!

Just like that first picture, none of these food-with-hand shots have been staged, prepared nor styled. It’s a picture hunting game I like to play while shooting in kitchens and is has become a bit of an obsession.